Super Bowl Sunday, aka “The Other Christmas” in America. I had my flights setup so that I could get home and indulge in as many dips as possible while watching the game and rooting for any team that had the opportunity to beat the Patriots. Alas the airplane, weather and football Gods had other plans for me because my flights got delayed and jerked around and, sadly, the Patriots won. Fortunately for me, though, on my flight from DC to Syracuse I met an airplane friend – Jesse.

Jesse and I were snugged up in the exit row for an hour longer than we should have been because Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) could not get their stuff together. The two of us looked like two lovable hipsters from Brooklyn with our newsie hats, beards, and horn-rimmed glasses. I forget how our conversation started, but I am glad it did.

Jesse is originally from Los Angeles and he went to school at Humboldt State in NorCal. He studied literature there and met his future wife in the process. He proposed to his wife on stage at a concert of a former hardcore turned singer/songwriter artist. Jesse had reached out to the artist when he heard he was going to be in LA. He agreed and suggested that Jesse come up during one of his songs. That was Jesse’s least favorite song by the artist but beggars can’t be choosers so he agreed. After their engagement he and his wife got married in a barn in central California.

For a few years after undergrad Jesse was a freelance programmer. He would alternate between taking jobs that paid well and jobs that were in the non-profit sector. He is passionate about energy conservation. When that became unfulfilling both he and his then girlfriend/fiancée decided they wanted to go back to school, her for library sciences and him for 18th Century Literature. They applied to a bunch of the same schools, she got into every one and he only got into Syracuse, so that’s where they chose! She received her masters and now works as a archivist for one of Syracuse University’s specialized collections. Jesse just finished is dissertation and is well on his way to being Dr. Jesse.

I asked him why he chose 18th Century Literature as his focus. He said he is actually studying food in 18th Century Literature. So he had read a ton of historical cookbooks as well as other pieces written during that time. He said the reason this fascinated him is because he has found that it is during the 18th Century when culturally based cuisines began to be celebrated and assimilated into other cultures. For example, the signature curry dishes of India started being made in European nations and being referred to as “Indian food.”

We talked a lot about food, which was just fine with me. I found out that Jesse does not really like barbecue, which broke my heart a little, especially because he lives minutes from one of the best BBQ joints in the country, the original Dinosaur BBQ. So we talked about foie gras, sweetbreads, Napa valley wines, how we both want to eat our way around Montreal, and how he hates all beer from New York.

Jesee has taken his passion for food and culture one step further than most with the help of his background in programming. He recently developed a program that tracks what ingredients and colors are most prominent in cultural cuisines. By using it you can punch in the ingredients of a dish and find out what nationality it is most likely derived from.

Other fun facts are that Jesse is obsessed with Soccer. The LA Galaxy is his favorite team and he actually has a tattoo of their logo. Indian is the culture he is the most fascinated by and the country he wants to visit the most. He has been to Burma a number of times because that is where his mother was born. Sadly, though, he never traveled there as an adult who was excited about diving into the culture. He is hoping to find a professor job somewhere in the Pacific Northwest after he is done at Syracuse I hope that whatever tenure-track position Jesse is able to land after completing his doctorate allows him to travel, until then, though, I am just glad we are airplane friends.

Estelle and I met on a flight from Chicago to Charleston, SC. We had both gotten upgraded to first class, so we were both feeling like bosses before we even took off. I cracked a joke to the flight attendant and Estelle cracked a smile so I thought I would say, hello. She did not seem too engrossed in her Glamour magazine so we started chatting.

Estelle was on her way to Charleston for a bachelorette party. I was disappointed that they did not all buy big hats and plan on talking in delightful southern accents the whole weekend. She too was disappointed at her oversight and she jokingly chastised me for not helping her out sooner. She said she was going to Philadelphia for another bachelorette party and asked me what should their theme be? I replied “big hats and southern accents.” Throughout our conversation we laughed a lot which made the flight “fly” by…sorry.

Estelle was born by Normandy in France but her parents moved her and her 2 siblings to St. Louis when she was younger. After her parents moved back to France her family went in every direction. She attended Georgetown. Her sister when to school in England, met a boy, and then moved to South Africa and her brother is still trying to figure life out. Fortunately he is doing it by living and skiing everyday in Switzerland…not a bad way to “find” yourself. This past Christmas was the first time they were all together in 2 years. They went to stay with her sister, her husband, and the child they are excitedly expecting down in South Africa. As a surprise, their parents packed an entire suitcase filled with French cheeses, wines, and bread. Estelle rolled her eyes when she said that and laughed.

We then got to talking about work. She works in the corporate offices of a major fertilizer company – not at all where she thought she would be working. I told her about my speaking career and coaching business and finished by saying, “there is something special about doing what you love.” Estelle thought about this for a minute and then responded with, “I guess I am not doing what I love, but I love what I do.” BOOM – MIC DROP! I love what she said and I am going to tell you all about why in an upcoming “Robo Thought.” Sign-up at the top of this page if you haven’t already!

Estelle and I then got to talking about her new role as a supervisor. She oversees a small but feisty staff of 4; a couple of which applied for the position she got and are significantly older than her. She said she was still trying to figure out how to best approach it and is still learning her supervision style though she is not afraid to put the hammer down if they get out of line. I asked her, “how do you work on building rapport with them?” She thought about it and did not really have an answer so we processed that in a conversation that’s not worth documenting now.

After work talk we bonded when Estelle told me her boyfriend was about to move to Chicago to put an end to their long distance relationship. My wife, Jacqueline, and I did long distance for 5 years. She chuckled because she frequently indulges in “retail therapy” so there is no space for her boyfriend’s clothes as of yet in her apartment!

Estelle also offered up an observation about what she has noticed about people in the US. She said we are all always busy and in constant need of entertainment. When her boyfriend went to Paris to meet her parents for the first time she was nervous because all they do is sit around, drink wine, and talk. Turns out he handled it like a champ. I was also fine with just sitting and talking, and that’s how Estelle and I became airplane friends.

If you liked this story, and want to read more like it, feel free to check out the rest of my Airplane Friends posts. Click on this link and scroll down!

Everyone, this is Joe. We became airplane friends on a recent flight from Syracuse to Chicago. I noticed Joe’s deep southern accent and asked him where he was from. When he told me Smithfield, NC I told him about how I went to school in Wilmington and the conversation flowed from there!

Joe is a sweetheart of a man who says “Yes Sir” and “Oh that’s nice” after just about everything you say. He used to be a TV repairman who worked on old tube TVs. The flat screen age put an end to that career so he became a truck driver. He knows the US interstate system really well but he told me that despite getting to see a lot of the country, he didn’t get to experience a lot of the culture because his truck was too big to get off the road and explore (future blog post about my thoughts on that coming soon).

Joe is now a school bus driver, but not the kind you’re thinking. 2-3 times a week Joe gets in an empty school bus in Tulsa, OK and drives 1100 miles to drop it off in upstate New York. He then flys back to Tulsa and does it again. Joe hasn’t been to his home in Smithfield since Christmas. Joe loves fishing, going on short hikes, eating haddock, Manchu Wok in the Chicago O’Hare airport, and the sweet Indian couple who owns the motel he stays at in Rome, NY before he flies back to Tulsa.

He and I both have older siblings and have very similar relationships with them – ones founded in love and support even though we don’t talk that much. There is no doubt that we have each other’s back, we just live independent lives. Joe, despite all of the flying he does, does not belong to any frequent flyer programs. I told him he needed to sign up for one because, as a fellow independent contractor, that’s one of the few ways we get “benefits” in our job and that he needed to treat himself!

Joe is a great man and one who’s path I hope to cross again, soon. Thanks for being my airplane friend, Joe!

Everyone, meet Bonnie. I had the opportunity to sit next to this warm-hearted rural Minnesotan on a recent flight from DC to the Twin Cities. She had the best accent & told me all about her husband, Earl Dean. They were flying back from Memphis after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!

I asked Bonnie if she and Earl Dean traveled a lot. She said this was only her second time in her life outside of Minnesota. I asked her if this trip has sparked her inner travel bug and she replied, “Oh no, that was quite enough for me, I’ll stick to Minnesota.”

Bonnie told me they met at a polka and he asked her to dance. He was apparently a terrible dancer but she fell for him anyway. The whole ride she would lean over and tell him across the aisle about what kind of drink he should order (tomato juice) & that they were serving scones. Old love is the best love, & I’m glad Bonnie & I are ‪airplane friends‬.